Regulating my expenses

A certain King asked a religious man, how

lie passed his valuable time? He replied, “All night I pray, in the morning

offer up my vows and petitions, and the whole day is spent in regulating

my expenses.” The King commanded that they should provide him a

daily subsistence to relieve his mind from the cares of his family.

0 thou, who art enthralled with the cares

of a family, look not for freedom in any other respect; sorrow for children,

bread, raiment, and subsistence, incapacitates you for contemplating the

invisible world. The whole day I am reflecting that at night I shall be

employed in my devotions ; and at night, when I begin my prayers, I am thinking

how I shall be able to provide food for my children next morning.

Hermits of Damascus

One of the hermits of Damascus had

passed many years in the desert in devotion, feeding on the leaves of trees.

The King of that country having^ gone to visit him, said, “ It seems advisable

to me that I should prepare a place for you in the city, where you may perform

your devotions more, conveniently, and others be benefited by the blessing of

your company and take example from your good works.” The hermit would not

consent to this proposal. The ministers of state said, “It is necessary for the

satisfaction of his majesty, that you should remove into the city for a few

days, to make an experiment of the nature of the place; when, if you should

find your precious time disturbed by the society of others, the choice will

still remain in your power.” They have related that the hermit came into the

city, and that the King prepared for his reception a garden belonging to the palace:

a delightful situation, refreshing the spirits; red roses vying with the cheeks

of a beautiful damsel: hyacinths resembling the ringlets of a beloved mistress.

Although in the depth of winter, yet these flowers had the freshness of

new-born babes, who had not tasted the nurse’s milk: the branches of the trees

were ornamented with scarlet flowers, suspended among verdant foliage, shining

like tire. The King sent him immediately a beauteous handmaid; her face, fair

as the crescent moon, would fascinate an anchorite; and her angelic form,

arrayed in all the peacock’s pride and splendor, would at the first view

deprive the most rigid moralist of the command of his passions. She was

followed by a youth of rare beauty and most exquisite symmetry of form: he is

surrounded by mortals parched with thirst, whilst he who hath the appearance of

a cup-bearer, bestowed not drink. The eyes could not be satisfied with the

sight of him, like one afflicted with dropsy beholding the Euphrates. The

hermit began to feast on dainties, was arrayed in elegant attire, regaled

himself with fruits and perfumes, and took delight in the company of the virgin

and her attendant. The sages have said that, ‘The ringlets of fair maids are

chains for the feet of reason, and a snare for the bird of wisdom. In your

service I have lost my heart, my religion, and my reason: in truth, I am now

the bird of wisdom, and you are the snare.’ To be brief: his state of enjoyment

began to decline, in the manner as has been said, ‘ Whenever a lawyer, a

teacher, a disciple, or an orator, possessed of pure spirit, descends to mean

worldly concernments, he will find himself enthralled, like flies with their

feet in honey.’

Once the King, having an inclination to see

him, found the holy man much altered in his appearance, having become plump,

with a clear and rosy complexion. He was reclining on a pillow of damask, silk,

and the fairy-formed boy stood behind him with a fan made of peacock’s feathers.

The King rejoiced at his happy condition, and they talked on various subjects,

until the King concluded the conversation by saying, “ I have an affection for

two descriptions of men in the world, the learned and the recluse.” A Vizier, a

man of wisdom and experience, being present, said, “ 0 King, the law of

benevolence requires that you should do good to both of them : give money to

the learned, that others may be induced to study j but give nothing to

recluses, in order that they may continue such. Durweshes require not direms

and dinars ; when they receive money, look out for other Durweshes. Whosoever

possesseth a virtuous disposition, and has his mind devoted to God, is a

religious man, without feeding on consecrated bread or begging for broken victuals.

The finger of a beautiful woman, and the tip of her ear, are handsome without

an ear-jewel or a turquoise ring. He is a Durwesh who is virtuous and wise,

although he tasteth not holy bread nor the fragments of beggary. The lady

endowed with an elegant form and a beautiful face is charming without paint or

jewels. Whilst I have any thing of my own, and cove t the goods of others, if

you do not call me a religious man, perhaps you will not be mistaken.”